
Class L 7^4 

Book .VJ9Q7 
Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SECOND PARISH, 



WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS; 



GLEANINGS FROM ITS HISTORY, 



BY 



SAMUEL S. GREEN 




V 




c^r /3/£visOr^Z. 



GLEANINGS 






FROM THE 



SOURCES OF THE HISTORY 



OF THE 



SECOND PARISH, 



WORCESTER MASSACHUSETTS; 



SAMUEL S. GREEN. 



CFkom Proceedings of the American antiquarian Society, April 25, 1883.] 



WORCESTER : 

PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON, 

311 Main Street. 



1883. 



1 




GLEANINGS. 



The religious society which is known as The Second Parish in the 
town of Worcester, originated in a voluntary association of sixty-seven 
persons, formed in March, 1785. The first meeting of the society for 
public worship was held on the third Sunday of this month, and it was 
incorporated by an act of the General Court, passed November 13, 1787. 
The history of this organization has been written several times, but 
there are a few incidents connected with its formation and early history 
which deserve further consideration. These I propose to write about 
briefly in this paper. 

Following will be found a list of the principal sources of information 
regarding the Second Parish : — The manuscript parish and church 
records, which are well preserved. The treasurer of the parish has in 
his possession, a trunk containing numerous early lists of the valuation 
of the property of its members, reports of committees, and other docu- 
ments of value in finding out the history of the Society. There are 
two sermons of Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft, of especial historical value, 
namely : that preached on the first Sunday after the ordination of his 
colleague, Alonzo Hill, April 8, 1827, and that delivered on the fiftieth 
anniversary of his settlement as pastor of the parish, January 31, 1836. 
There are also three valuable historical discourses delivered by the 
second pastor of the society, Rev. Dr. Alonzo Hill, namely : one on the 
life and character of his predecessor, delivered at his interment, August 
22, 1839 ; another, delivered when he had been ordained twenty-five 
years ; and still another, preached on the occurrence of the celebration of 
the fortieth anniversary of his settlement, March 28, 1867. The first 
two are enriched by interesting historical notes, and the last contains 
an account of proceedings at a social gathering in the vestry 
of the meeting-house, at which were recounted some interesting 
facts in the history of the society. The article on Dr. Bancroft, in 
volume eight of the Annals of the American Pulpit, by our late associate, 
William B. Sprague, D.D., was written by Dr. Sprague himself, who 
knew Dr. Bancroft personally, and contains valuable letters concerning 
the subject of the memoir, by his distinguished parishioner, the late 



Gov. Levi Lincoln, and by his son, Hon. George Bancroft. See also the 
Worcester Pulpit, by Rev. Elam Smalley, D.D., History of the Worcester 
Association, etc., by Rev. Joseph Allen, D.D. Dr. Allen was well 
acquainted Avith Dr. Bancroft, and had lived for a considerable time in 
his family. See also The History of Worcester, 1 by William Lincoln, a 
member of the second parish, and its continuation by Charles Hersey ; 
The History of Worcester, by Charles A. Chase, in the History of Wor- 
cester County, published in 1879; Reminiscences of Worcester, by 
Caleb A. Wall; The History of the County of Worcester, by Peter 
Whitney; Report of the Committee of the Second Parish in Worcester, 
on the subject of its expenditures, and the best mode of raising money 
for its support, by Levi Lincoln, made in 1866; an Historical Discourse 
delivered September 22, 1863, to commemorate the one hundredth anni- 
versary of the erection of the meeting-house of the First Parish in 
Worcester, by Leonard Bacon, D.D. Note also a passage on Rev. Dr. 
Bancroft, in one of a series of letters printed in the Worcester Palla- 
dium, called Carl's Tour in Main Street. The first of these letters 
appeared in the paper issued under date of March 21, 1855. A volume 
of Controversial Sermons was published in Worcester, May, 1822, by 
Rev. Dr. Bancroft. Examine also, other books and pamphlets, publicly 
or privately printed, by the three pastors of the society, Aaron Ban- 
croft, Alonzo Hill, and Edward H. Hall. William Lincoln, in his 
history, 2 gives a long note containing a list of the publications of Rev. Dr. 
Bancroft. 

This society was a "poll parish "from the beginning. It was, says 
Rev. Dr. Bancroft, " I believe, the first example of a poll parish in any 
inland town of the commonwealth." 3 William Lincoln, in his History 
of Worcester, 4 speaks of its erection into a poll parish ("bringing 
together those of similar opinions, without regard to local habitation") 
as "almost, if not entirely unprecedented, except in the metropolis." 
Lincoln, 5 however, Whitney, 6 and Dr. Bancroft himself, 7 speak of 
the society of Rev. John Rogers, in Leominster, as a poll parish. This 
parish was established by an order of the General Court, February 18, 
1762, twenty-three years before the first meeting of the associates who 
were afterwards incorporated as the Second Parish in Worcester. The 
term is used here in a different sense from that which it has when 
applicable to the society in Worcester. I have not been able to find, in 
print, the order by which the parish of Mr. Rogers in Leominster was 
established, but Mr. C. B. Tillinghast, the acting Librarian of the State, 



'The references to Lincoln's History of Worcester in this paper are 
to the edition of 1862. 

2 Pp. 173 and 4. 

3 Discourse delivered April 8, 1827. 

4 Id., page 1G7. 

5 Id., lb., note 1. 

6 Hist, of Worcester Co., p. 194. 

7 Discourse delivered January 31, 1836. 



has courteously caused a copy of it to be made for me from the manu- 
script Records of the General Court, now in the State House at Boston. 
I give the copy in a note. 1 

The Rule of the Superior Court of Judicature, containing the terms 
of agreement which regulated the provisions of the order of the General 
Court, may be found in Wilder's History, pp. 176 and 7. 

A statement of Wilder, in his history of Leominster, is somewhat 
misleading, as he speaks of the order of the General Court as an " Act 



•In the manuscript records of the General Court, under date of Jan- 
uary 27, 1762, occurs the following entry: — "A petition of Jonathan 
White, agent of the adherents of the Rev. John Rogers, Pastor of the 
church in Leominster, setting forth that an unhappy controversy hath 
for several years subsisted in the said town, and a number of the inhabi- 
tants have withdrawn from the ministry of their said pastor, and 
refused to pay towards his salary, whereby he was necessitated to bring 
his action against them, and finally a rule of Court was entered into, 
previous to which the petitioners' constituents were earnestly requested 
in writing, by the other inhabitants, to consent to a division of the town 
into two precincts, and that they have since, agreeably to the Rule of 
Court, requested the town's concurrence in said division, to which they 
have by vote agreed, and praying that they and other, the adherents of 
the said Mr. Rogers, may be incorporated into a separate precinct, 
agreeable to the said rule of Court. 

"In Council read and ordered that the petitioners have leave to bring 
in a bill for the purposes within mentioned." — [Gen. Court Records, v. 
24, p. 204. 

Under date of February 18, 1762, occurs the following entry: — 

"In Council, ordered that Thomas Wilder, Nathaniel Colburu, James 
Simonds. Joseph P. May, Joseph Wheelock, Nathauiel Carter, Simon 
Butler, Nathaniel Rogers, David Farnsworth, Thomas Legatt, Thomas 
Wilder, Jr., William Warner, John Colburu, Nathaniel Carter, Jr., 
Susanna Peabody, Jonathan White, Abner Wheelock, Jonathan Wol- 
burn, Timothy Kendall, Jonas Kendall, Mayaban Leggat, Jonathan 
White, Jr., Lemuel Davenport, Nathaniel Peabody, Abel Wheelock, 
Samuel Hardcastle, and the farm of Stephen Symonds of Boxford, lying- 
in Leominster, David White, Joseph Butler, James Symonds, James 
White, Elijah Wheelock, Abel Wilder, Francis Corey, Nathan Colburn 
and Robert Legatt be, and together with their estates, lying in Leomin- 
ster, in the County of Worcester, hereby are erected into a distinct and 
separate precinct, and vested with all the powers, privileges and immu- 
nities which other precincts by law do enjoy, and that the rule of Court 
and every matter and thing therein contained, which was entered into 
at the last Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General 
Gaol delivery, holden at Worcester, iu September last, by the Inhabit- 
ants of Leominster, Plaintiffs, and John Rogers, defendant, be, and 
hereby is ratified and confirmed, to all intents and purposes whatever, 
and that the honorable John Chandler, Esq., be, and he hereby is 
empowered to issue his Warrant to some principal person in said 
Parish to warn a Parish meeting in the month of March next in said 
town of Leominster, then and there to meet and chuse Parish officers, 
as by law other Parishes in this Province are enjoined to chuse." 

"In the House of Representatives, read and concurred. 

"Consented to by the Governor." — [Gen. Court Records, v. 24, p. 271. 



of incorporation," and gives incorrectly the date of its passage (p. 178). 
An examination of this order shows that the parish in Leominster was 
a territorial parish, and that Thomas Wilder and others, together with 
their estates lying in Leominster, and the farm of Stephen Symonds of 
Boxford, were erected into a distinct and separate precinct. The 
estates of the members of the parish were probably, however, not con- 
tiguous, as was the case usually in territorial parishes. 

The great difference between the poll parishes which existed in Wor- 
cester after the incorporation of the Second Parish, and the poll parish 
in Leominster, will appear from the following extract from the Act of 
Incorporation of the Second Parish. It was enacted " That any of the 
inhabitants of the said town" (Worcester) "shall at all times hereafter 
have full liberty to join themselves with their families to either of the 
parishes in the said town : Provided they shall signify in writing under 
their hands to the clerk of the said town, their determination of beiug 
considered as belonging to the parish to which they may join themselves 
as aforesaid." 

I found it difficult to get at a copy of this Act of Incorporation, and 
therefore append one in a note, which Mr. Tillinghast had made for me 
from the printed Laws of Massachusetts for 1787. 1 



1 An Act for incorporating a number of the Inhabitants of the town 
of Worcester, in the County of Worcester, into a separate Parish. 

Whereas — a number of the inhabitants of the town of Worcester, 
belonging to the religious society whereof the Rev. Aaron Bancroft is 
pastor, have petitioned this Court to be incorporated for the reasons 
expressed in their petition, and it appearing to this Court reasonable 
that the prayer be granted : 

Be it therefore enacted by the Senate, and House of Representatives, 
in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That 
Levi Lincoln, Timothy Paine, David Bigelow, Joseph Allen, Palmer 
Goulding, Benjamin Flagg, John Peirce, John Stowers, John Barnard, 
Jedediah Healy, William Treadwell, Abel Stowell, Phineas Heywood, 
Eli Chapin, Cornelius Stowell, Thadeus McCarty, Samuel Chandler, 
Abraham Lincoln, Samuel Flagg, Ephraim Mower, John Stanten, 
Timothy Bigelow, Clark Chandler, John Smith, Samuel Allen, Ignatius 
Goulding, Daniel Goulding, Edward Bangs, Samuel Bridge, John Good- 
win, Jacob Snow, Samuel Brazer, Nathan Heard, Nathaniel Paine, 
David Bigelow, Nahum Willard, Joel How, Oliver Peirce, Josiah 
Peirce, Isaiah Thomas, Samuel Fullerton, John Walker, David Chad- 
wick. Ellis Gray Blake, Micah Johnson, Benjamin Andrews, Samuel 
Rice, Charles Chandler, Andrew Tufts, Daniel Clap, Benjamin Green, 
Joseph Torry, William Gates, Samuel Warden, Winthrop Chandler, 
William Johnson, William Jenneson, Anthony Paine, John Paine, Elias 
Mann, Peter Stowell, Thomas Stowell, Benjamin Butman, the petition- 
ers, and members of the said religious society, together with their polls 
and estates be, and hereby are incorporated into a parish by the name 
of the second parish in the town of Worcester, with all the privileges, 
powers and immunities which other parishes in this Commonwealthrare 
entitled to, by law. 

Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any of the inhabitants 
of the said town, shall at all times hereafter have full liberty to join 
themselves with their families to either of the parishes in the said town, 



It appears from this document that after the incorporation of the 
Second Parish the citizens of Worcester, unlike those of Leominster*, 
were free to attend the services of either of the two societies they chose 
to select, and to change from one society to the other at will, paying 
for the support of public worship according to the rules of the society 
they were pleased to attach themselves to. Their estates went with 
them, but they could carry their estates from one parish to the other 
after the observance of a slight formality. The second parishes, both 
in Leominster and in Worcester, were iu a certain sense territorial; 
they were both iu a certain sense poll parishes. But the members of 
the two parishes in Worcester enjoyed greater liberty of action than 
those of either of the parishes in Leominster, and the step taken in the 
incorporation of the Second Parish in Worcester was one greatly in 
advance of the one taken in the incorporation of Rev. Mr. Rogers's 
parish in Leominster. 

Winthrop, as is well known, writes in his Journal, in 1639, that 
"Mr. Cotton preaching out of the 8 of Kings, 8, taught that when 
magistrates are forced to provide for the maintenance of ministers, etc., 
then the churches are in a declining condition," and, " that the 
ministers' maintenance should be by voluntary contribution, not by 
lands, revenues or tithes, etc." 1 

Chief Justice Parker, in delivering the decision of the Supreme 
Judicial Court in the famous Dedham Case in 1820, said: " In 1654 2 an 
authority was given to the county court to assess upon the inhabitants 
a proper sum for the support of their minister, if any defect existed, 
and this probably was the first coercive power given for this purpose." 3 



Provided they shall signify in writing under their hands to the clerk of 
the said town, their determination of being considered as belonging to 
the parish to which they may join themselves as aforesaid. 

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the mem- 
bers of each respective parish, and their families, shall be deemed and 
considered as continuing members of their respective parishes, with 
their estates, for the time being, until they shall signify their determi- 
nation to the contrary, as above expressed. 

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Levi Lin- 
coln, Esq., be, and hereby is authorized, to issue his warrant, directed 
to some principal member of the said parish, requiring him to warn the 
members of the said parish, qualified to vote in parish affairs, to assem- 
ble at some suitable time and place in the said town, to choose such 
officers as parishes are by law required to choose in the month of 
March or April annually, and to transact all matters and things neces- 
sary to be done in the said parish. 

[This act passed November 13, 1787.] 

— [Laws of Massachusetts 1787, chapter 7. 

1 Hist, of New England by John Winthrop, p. 355. 

2 Records of the Governor and Company of the Mass"" Bay, Vol. IV., 
Part I., p. 199. 

3 Mass" 5 Reports, vol. 16, p. 516. 



He also states that in the earliest times ministers were probably sup- 
ported in the colony of Massachusetts Bay by voluntary contributions. 1 
Indications are not wanting, however, that before 1654 the freemen of 
Massachusetts Bay had it in mind, when inhabitants did not voluntarily 
contribute proper amounts for the support of public worship, to collect 
such amounts by compulsion. 2 As early as Sept. 6, 1638, the General 
Court passed a law which has the following provision : "it is also 
ordered, that every such inhabitant who shall not voluntarily contribute 
proportionably to his ability, with other freemen of the same towne, to 
all common charges, as well for upholding the ordinances in the 
churches as otherwise, shall bee compelled thereto by assessment & 
distress to bee levied by the cuustable, or other officer of the towne, as 
in other cases." 3 

After the system of supporting the ministry by voluntary contribu- 
tions, which had prevailed in the earliest times of the colonies both of 
Massachusetts Bay and of Plymouth, 4 was given up, the law and the 
usage concerning the maintenance of public worship passed through 
various modifications, until, in 1833, an amendment of the Third Article 
in the Bill of Rights of the constitution of this commonwealth again 
left the whole subject to the voluntary action of the people. At the 
time when the second religious society was formed in Worcester, 
parishes outside of Boston generally raised money for the support of 
public worship by taxes laid upon the polls and estates of their members. 
They had enjoyed the privilege, however, since 1754 of raising money in 
the manner in vogue in Boston, namely, by laying an assessment upon 
owners of pews, according to a valuation. 5 

The voluntary association which grew into the Second Parish, was 
formed while troubles were vexing the souls of citizens, which led in 
the autumn of 1786 to those overt acts against the government of 
Massachusetts which are known by the name of Shays's Rebellion. 
Thus it came into existence at a time when great poverty prevailed 
among the people, and distressed the State and country. Until the 
society was incorporated as the Second Parish, November 13, 1787, its 
members were also obliged to pay their proportion of taxes levied for 
the payment of the expenses of the First Parish. On account of this 
state of things it was deemed unwise for the Second Parish to raise 
money for its own purposes by taxes levied on the polls and estates of 
its members. Therefore it was voted, 6 " That there be a contribution 



1 Mass" 3 Reports, vol. 16, pp. 514-15. 

2 Mass'* 5 Eccles. Law by Edward Buck, revised edition, pp. 24-26. 

3 Records of the Governor and Companv of the Mass'* 4 Bav, vol. 1, 
pp. 240-1. 

"For pertinent matter connected with this subject see the Congrega- 
tional Quarterly, Vol. I., pp. 159 and 161. 

5 Mass. Eccles. Law by Edward Buck, revised ed., pp. 3S and 39. 

6 Parish records, Nov. 7, 1785. 



on the first Sabbath in each month for the payment of Mr. Bancroft's 
salary & that each person contributing and putting his name on the 
wrapper be credited therefor, & that Mr. Bridge pay the sums so 
collected to Mr. Bancroft and take his receipt therefor." In February 1 
of the next year assessors were chosen to assess the minister's salary 
and certain expenses attendant upon his ordination, on the members of 
the parish agreeably to the last town tax. No attempt was made, how- 
ever, to force the payment of the assessments, and in 1787 bills for 
taxes still unpaid were placed in the hands of the minister with the 
request that he should settle with members severally. ' He was assured 
" that these taxes could not with safety be collected in the usual 
manner." 2 Dr. Bancroft writes that "members generally were dis- 
posed to make payment in the most easy manner," and that " The sums 
received fell far short in value of the amount due." 3 Until 1792, when 
the first meeting-house of the society was occupied, all of its expenses 
were paid by voluntary contributions. At that time a tax of twenty- 
four shillings, or four dollars, was laid on every pew on the floor of the 
house, "for the use of the ministry." 4 

The next year 5 it was voted " That the Gallery pews in said meeting- 
house be subjected to a tax of twelve shillings each pew annually." In 
December, 1796, 6 it was voted " that there be assessed and levied upon 
the Polls & Estates of the members of this Parish the sum of two hundred 
& eighty four Dollars & twenty-seven Cents, for the purposeof paying a 
deficiency of Gallery Pew taxes due to the Rev 1 Aaron Bancroft, & to 
make up to him in addition to the Pew tax, the sum of one hundred & 
fifty pounds for the present year, commencing ye first clay of April one 
thousand seven hundred & ninety six and euding the first of April 1797. 
Provided that those persons who are bound by their subscriptions 
towards the support of the Rev 1 Aaron Bancroft for the term of five 
years be released from that subscription for & during the term of one 
year from the said first day of April 1796 — & that the Parish assessors 
be directed to make such assessment & the Collector to call for the 
money forthwith." Up to the date of this vote no levy had been made 
upon the polls and estates of the members of the Second Parish. That 
is to say, its expenses had been paid by voluntary contributions exclu- 
sively for about seven years, and by taxes on pews and voluntary 
contributions for four or five years longer. Money was raised, after 
this time, for the support of public worship by the tax on pews and by 
assessments on polls and estates until the second meeting-house of the 



1 Parish records, Feb. 24, 1786. 

2 Discourse delivered, Jan. 31, 1836, pp. 20 and 21. 
3 Id., lb. 

4 Parish records, Feb. 4, 1791. 

5 Id., Jan. 16, 1792. 

6 Id., Dec. 26, 1796. 



10 

parish was built. This was dedicated Aug. 20, 1829. From this time 
forward, until 1867, money was raised by taxes levied on polls and 
estates exclusively. In January 1 of the last-named year it was " voted 
that hereafter all sums of money voted and to be raised by the Parish 
for the support of the Ministry and for incidental parish expenses, shall 
be equally divided between and assessed upon the pews in the meeting- 
house and the polls and estates of the members of the Parish ; the one- 
half thereof upon each." No tax seems to have been levied in 
accordance with the provisions of this vote, for April -15th of the same 
year it was " Voted that the whole amount of the money to be raised 
for parish expenses for the current year be assessed upon the pews in 
the meeting-house." From that time to the present, money has been 
raised by taxes laid upon the pews only, excepting that extraordinary 
expenses have been occasionally met by voluntary subscriptions by 
members of the society. 

It appears from what has now been stated, that after the establish- 
ment of the Second Parish, citizens of Worcester could attach them- 
selves to either parish, could change from one parish to the other at 
will, and if they joined the Second Parish could for several years 
obtain gospel privileges if they chose without paying for them. The 
inhabitants of Worcester were still obliged to go to meeting somewhere, 
for it was not until 1791 that able-bodied men, absent three months 
from meeting, could escape serious consequences by paying the petty 
sum of ten shillings. It was not until 1835 that this law was repealed. 2 

The doctrinal attitude of the Second Parish at the time of its forma- 
tion is shown by the following extract from a sermon of Rev. Dr. 
Bancroft, preached April 8, 1827. He says the society " originated 
from a difference of opinion among the inhabitants " of Worcester " on 
the Calvinistic and Arminian creeds. Questions respecting the divine 
Unity were not then agitated, and among those who separated, I am 
uot sure there was more than one decided Unitarian." 3 In a note to a 
sermon preached about nine years after, Dr. Bancroft writes, " two or 
three years after my settlement, a distinguished member of the society 
came to me in evident excitement, and said ' it is reported that you 
deny the underived Divinity of the Savior; such a report credited would 
shake our society to its centre.' " 4 The members of the society 
changed their views during Dr. Bancroft's ministry, for when in 1821, 
thirty-six years after he began to preach to the new organization, he 
delivered a course of controversial sermons which were decidedly 
Unitarian in their statement of doctrines, he was able to write 
respecting these discourses that they "were almost universally 



1 Parish records, Jan. 7, 1867. 

2 Mass" 3 Eccles. Law by Edward Buck, revised ed., p. 27. 

3 Id., p. 15. 

4 Discourse delivered Jan. 31, 1836, p. 43. 



11 

approved by the hearers, and at their desire published." 1 While still 
young Dr. Bancroft began to doubt the soundness of the doctrinal 
teachings under which he had been brought up. He writes, " the 
Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism was early taught me. 
While young, I was, by my father, appointed reader to the family ou 
Saturday evenings, and Willard's Body of Divinity, a large folio, was 
selected as my book. The Catechism I never understood or loved ; — my 
mind revolted against Willard. I could not assent to the popular creed, 
and I well remember the throes of my youthful mind when dwelling 
upon religious subjects." 2 Again he writes, " I was educated in the 
Trinitarian and Calvinistic faith, and well remember the conflicts of my 
mind between the desire of searching for Christian truth and the fear 
of falling into fatal error." 3 

Dr. Sprague says that Dr. Bancroft was not only an Arminian but an 
Arian at the time when he supplied the pulpit of the First Church 
during the illness of its pastor, Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty. 4 Perhaps 
this was the case. At any rate, a little later he was unwilliug to say 
or write anything in opposition to Arian ism. In speakiug of the com- 
mencement of his ministry, fifty years after his settlement in Worcester, 
he writes, "I may, I believe, safely aver, that I never uttered a senti- 
ment from the pulpit, either in a sermon or a prayer, inconsistent with 
the Unitarian doctrine ; but in humble imitation of Jesus I did decline 
to preach truths which I was persuaded people were not prepared to. 
bear. The peculiarities of Calvinism were without reserve opposed, 
and doctrines inculcated which embraced the Divine clemency, the 
moral ageucy of man, the sufficiency of Scripture, the right of private 
judgment, the adaptation of the terms of acceptance to human power, 
and the certainty of salvation to all who seek Divine assistance and 
prove their faith by their works." 5 

Alonzo Hill, the successor of Dr. Bancroft, in a sermon on the life 
and character of his predecessor, writes, " Dr. Freeman has been 
generally regarded as the earliest advocate of Unitariauism in this 
country; but it is not generally known, that when he was refused 
ordination by his superior clergy on account of the change in his 
opinions, Dr. Bancroft had already taken his position, — was consulted 
by him — had consented to assist at his ordination over the society at 
King's Chapel, and was prevented only by their dispensing with an 
ecclesiastical council and adopting lay services. 6 It was in 1787 that 
King's Chapel became a Unitarian Church. The First Church in 
Plymouth settled a liberal minister soon after the year 1800, and a 



1 Discourse preached Jan. 31, 1836, p. 29. 

2 Discourse preached by Alonzo Hill Aug. 22, 1839, p. 29. 

3 Discourse preached by Rev. Dr. Bancroft Jan. 1, 1836, p. 43. 

4 Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. VIII., p. 133. 

5 Discourse delivered Jan. 31, 1836, pp. 28 and 29. 

6 Discourse of Alonzo Hill delivered Aug. 22, 1839, p. 28. 



12 

portion of the more orthodox members of the society withdrew from it. 
However, it was not until 1815, or later, that a general separation of 
the Orthodox and Liberals took place in Boston and its vicinity. It 
was in this year that our late associate, Jedediah Morse, shotted the guns 
of the Panoplistwith the letters of Freeman and later Unitarians, and fired 
them into the ranks of the Liberals. Churches and ministers now 
hoisted their colors. 

Dr. Bancroft writes, "the editors of the Panoplist republished Bel- 
sham's History of American Unitariauism, accompanied with bitter 
reflections and severe censures on liberal clergymen; those in Boston 
particularly were charged with criminally concealing their opinions, and 
of great duplicity in the execution of their official duties. ***** 
Believing myself to be in some measure included in the general charge 
and finding the subject in controversy had become familiar to every 
class in the community by religious journals, newspapers and sermons, 
and that it was made a common topick of conversation in our families, 
I deemed it expedient to deliver a course of doctrinal discourses." 
These sermons were delivered in 1821 and published in 1822. They 
show Dr. Bancroft to have been an Ariau at the time when they were 
preached. In them he opposes the five points of Calvinism, and argues 
against the doctrine of Universal restoration and in favor of the belief 
in the annihilation of the wicked. 

George Bancroft writes of his father that " He had no sympathy with 
Belsham or his school, and read little or nothing of theirs till late in 
life." 1 

Belsham held humanitarian views in regard to Christ. So did 
Priestley and other early Unitarians in England. But most of the early 
Unitarians in America were, like Dr. Bancroft, Ariaus. Dr. Channing 
denied that the Boston ministers had any sympathy with Belsham's 
peculiar views. 2 With most of his brethren Dr. Bancroft believed also 
in the inspiration and sufficiency of the scriptures. " He," also, writes 
his son, " considered reason as a primary and universal revelation of 
God to men of all nations and all ages ; he was sure' of the necessary har- 
mony between reason and true religion, and he did not scruple to reject 
whatever seemed to him plainly in contradiction with it." 3 

Among the persons incorporated into the Second Parish are the fol- 
lowing: Levi Lincoln (who at the time of the formation of the society 
was nearly .36 years old. March 5, 1801, he was appointed Attorney- 
General of the United States in Jefferson's Cabinet, resigning after about 
four years service. In 1811 he was chosen an Associate Justice of the 
United States Supreme Court, but on account of- ill health declined the 
appointment. He was Councillor in the American Antiquarian Society, 

'Sprague's Annals, Vol. VIII., p. 139. 
2 Id., p. XV: 
3 Id., p. 140. 



13 

1816-1817) ; Timothy Paine, his sons Nathaniel, Anthony and John 
(about 55 years old in 1785. Lincoln, in his History of Worcester, says 
that Timothy Paine was long one of the most respected and useful citi- 
zens of Worcester. He received, just before the Revolution broke out, 
an appointment of Mandamus Councillor, a station which, as Lincoln 
says, he " declined in compliance with public will." ' Nathaniel Paine, 
about 26 years old, 2 was Judge of Probate for 35 years from January 
24, 1801, and Councillor in the American Antiquarian Society, 1815-1820. 
Anthony Paine and John Paine were respectively about 25 and 23 years 
old) ; David Bigelow (54 or 55 years old. His sou Tyler Bigelow mar- 
ried Clara, daughter of Timothy Bigelow. The late George T. Bigelow, 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, was 
their son. A daughter of David Bigelow married Zachariah Child of 
West Boylston, who was father of David Lee Child, the husband of the 
late Lydia Maria Child) ; Timothy Bigelow (brother of David was about 
46 years old. He was a distinguished patriot preceding and during the 
Revolution. He was the father of the Hon. Timothy Bigelow of Med- 
ford and Boston, and grandfather of Hon. John P. Bigelow, Mayor of 
Boston, and Rev. Dr. Andrew Bigelow of Boston, who were all mem- 
bers' of the American Antiquarian Society. He was also, as stated 
before, grandfather of Hon. George T. Bigelow. Mrs. Abbott Law- 
rence was his granddaughter) ; Joseph Allen (35 or 36 years old. He 
was a nephew of Samuel Adams. He was a member, with Levi Lincoln 
and David Bigelow, of the Convention which framed the first Constitu- 
tion of Massachusetts. Member of Congress in 1810, etc.) ; Isaiah 
Thomas (about 36 years old. Peter Whitney whose History of Worces- 
ter County was published 1793, writes as follows: "A printing press 
was here [Worcester] set up in 1775, by Mr. Isaiah Thomas, who is 
thought to do far more business than any other in the state, or in the 
United States of America" [p. 28.] "Mr. Thomas has also carried on, 
the bookbinding business very extensively ; and is now engaged in 
building, in Worcester, as large a paper mill as is in this state. His 
bookstore in Worcester is kept well filled with a large assortment of 
books in all branches of literature, which is a great accommodation to 
purchasers in the town and county. His manufactures employ and sup- 
port a large number of people, and it may justly be said, that the busi- 
ness of no one person has added more to the consequence aud advantage 
of the town and county of Worcester than his." [p. 29]. He was the 
founder and first President of the American Autiquarian Society) ; Palmer 
Goulding, his brother Ignatius and his son Daniel (Palmer, 62 years old, 
Ignatius about 51, Daniel about 33 years of age. 3 Palmer senior, the father 



1 p. 222. 

2 The figures placed against this and following names show the ages 
of the persons designated in 1785, the year of the formation of the 
Second religious Society in Worcester. 

3 The ages of the Gouldings are taken from Wall's Reminiscences of 
Worcester. 



14 

of the Palmer Goulding here mentioned, Palmer, jr., and Daniel are spoken 
of by Wall in his Reminiscences of Worcester [p. 51] as follows : "they 
all successively carried on the business of tanning, shoemaking, making 
malt, curing hams, &c, on an extended scale for those days." Daniel was 
" also a manufacturer of earthen ware. Tradition represents the earlier 
Gouldings to have been of extreme size, very ingenious, and capable of 
doing anything") ; Cornelius Stowell, and his sous Abel, Peter and Thomas 
(Cornelius about 60 years old, Abel 33, Thomas 29, and Peter 23. l 
Cornelius was a clothier by trade, " took his sons Peter and Ebenezer 
into partnership with him about 1790, when they began the busi- 
ness of manufacturing woollen goods and printing calicos, making 
a specialty of weaving carpets, dyeing and dressing woollen goods 
at the same time." "They also built shearing machines." "They 
made the first carpets used in the State House in Boston." 
Abel was a clock-maker and made the clock formerly in the 
tower of the First Church. Thomas Stowell was a clothier 2 ) ; Thad- 
deus Maccarty (about 38 years old, sou of Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty. 
He was a physician) ; Samuel, Clark, Charles and Winthrop Chandler 
(Clark 41 or 42, Charles about 30, Samuel about 28 years old, sous of 
the third Judge John Chandler. Winthrop Chandler about 3S years 'old, 
a descendant of the first Judge John Chandler, was a painter. On the 
list of the members of the church are Lucretia Chandler, who married 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft in 1780, and Sally Chandler who married John 
Stanton (29 or 30 years old) one of the corporate members of the 
parish) ; Abraham Lincoln (23 years old, brother of Levi Lincoln, senior, 
aud a man who filled many offices) ; Samuel Allen (about 28 years old, a 
brother of Joseph Allen, County Treasurer 1781 to his death, December 
26, 1830); Edward Bangs (about 29 years old, Councillor in the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society from 1812 to his death in 1818, Associate Jus- 
tice of the Court of Common Pleas for the Western Circuit); Samuel 
Brazer (30 years old, father of Rev. John Brazer of Salem) ; and Wil- 
liam Jeunisou. 

Among the owners of pews in the first meeting-house, which was 
occupied January 1, 1792, not before mentioned, were William Sever 
{26 years old, who married Mary, daughter of the last Judge John 
Chanclier), William Chandler (32 or 33 years old, another son of the 
same Judge Chandler), and John Green (about 22 years old, the second 
Dr. Green of this name). Stephen Salisbury, father of the President of 
this Society (38 or 39 years old), our former associate Hon. Daniel 
Waldo 3 (about 22 years old), aud Dr. William Paiue (35 years old), 



1 According to Bond's History of Watertown Cornelius Stowell was 
about 59 and Peter Stowell 21 years old. Wall gives the age of Cor- 
nelius Stowell as 61, of Peter as 23, aud the ages of the other members 
of the family mentioned, as above. 

2 Wall's Reminiscences, pp. 53 and 54. 

3 Chosen Clerk of the Parish April 17, 1797. 




FIRST MEETING-HOUSE OF THE SECOND PARISH 



Dedicated January 1, 1792. 



15 

son of Timothy Paine, Vice-President of this society from its founda- 
tion in 1812 to 1816, are among the early members of the Society. 
Under the dates of June 15, 1794, January 14, 1798, February 2, 1806, 
December 25, 1808, and January 26, 1812, we find in the church records 
entries of the baptisms of children of David Curtis. He was a direct 
descendant of Ephraim Curtis, who appears to have been the first actual 
white settler of Worcester, who came to Worcester in 1673, but had to 
abandon his settlement after a year or two on account of the hostilities 
of the Indians. David Curtis was the father of the wife of Dr. John 
Green (the third) the founder of the Free Public Library in Worcester, 
and of George Curtis of New York, the father of George William 
Curtis. 

Worcester had in 1790 only 2,044 inhabitants. 1 The names of persons 
already given, and those of others who were either corporate members 
of the Second Parish or who are known to have attended the services of 
this society in the earliest years of its existence, show that Dr. Bancroft 
must have been right when he stated that among his supporters at the 
beginning of his ministry there was a large proportion of the profes- 
sional and distinguished men of the town. " There was also in the 
society" at its start, writes Dr. Bancroft, "a fair proportion of the 
farmers and mechanics of the town." 2 Aaron Bancroft, the first pastor 
of the society, was Councillor in the American Antiquarian Society 
from its foundation in 1S12 to 1816, Vice-President from 1816 to 1831, 
and a member of its Publication Committee from 1815 to 1831. 

In the new society there were men who had been staunch patriots in 
the revolution, now just over, and members of families which had been 
loyalist in feeling. Side by side sat Levi Lincoln, Joseph Allen, 
Timothy Bigelow, Stephen Salisbury and other warm friends of the 
revolution; and Timothy Paine, his son Dr. William Paine, and the 
sons and daughters of the " honest refugee " the last Judge John 
Chandler. The first pastor, Rev. Mr. Bancroft, although an undoubted 
patriot, had spent the interval between the spring of 1780 and July 
1783 in Nova Scotia doing missionary work, and soon after settling in 
Worcester married a daughter of Judge Chandler. Families were 
considerably divided by theological differences in those days. Stephen 
Salisbury, Senior, attended the church of the Second Parish with his 
son ; Madame Salisbury remained in the First Church. Tradition says 
that she prized the influence of Rev. Dr. Austin of that-church so highly 
that she had our venerable President in his boyhood placed under his 
care, he spending the secular days of the week in his family and 
receiving such care from Dr. Austin as could be afforded after the 
demands of his farm and pulpit had been satisfied. Dr. John Green had 
a pew in the first meeting-house of the Second Parish; he inclined to 
liberal views in theology, imbibing, probably, the tendencies of his 



1 Lincoln's History, p. 259. 

2 Sermon delivered Jan. 31, 1836, p. 19. 



16 

mother the daughter of Timothy Riiggles of Hardwick rather than those 
of his father, the first Dr. John Green, who was a pious Baptist, one of 
the first three in Worcester, and the son of Rev. and Dr. Thomas Green 
of Greenville, Leicester, who besides being a distinguished physician 
was the first clergyman of the first Baptist Church in "Worcester County. 
I fear that Dr. Green did not attend meeting often. His wife, true to 
the Presbyterian blood that flowed in her veins, remained in the First 
church, and the children attended that church with her until several of 
them on growing up withdrew to the Second Parish. Daniel Waldo 
Jr.'s father and sisters attended the first church. He withdrew from 
the Second Parish and with his sisters took part in the formation of a 
new Congregational Church which took the name of The Calvinist 
Society in Worcester, a name which was changed in 1879 to The Central 
Society in Worcester. Before this change it had long been known in 
popular speech as the Centre Church. 3 Mr. Waldo built a meeting- 
house for the society at his own expense. 

There are numerous descendants of early members of the Second 
Parish still connected with the organization. There is no descendant, 
however, of either of the several Chandlers who belonged to the society 
at the beginning, still bearing the family name. Our venerable 
associate, Dr. George Chandler, is a descendant of Deacon John 
Chandler of Woodstock (now in Connecticut, but formerly a town in 
Worcester County, Massachusetts), through a brother of the first Judge 
John Chandler. Dr. Chandler's children, however, Mrs. A. G. Bullock 
and Mrs. Waldo Lincoln, who with their husbands are members of the 
society, are descendants through their mother of the first two Judge 
John Chandlers, and the children of Mrs, Lincoln, through their father, 
are descended from the third and last Judge of that name, also. I do not 
recall a direct descendant of Palmer Goulding, but there are several 
Gould ings in the society now, including Mr. Frank P. Goulding, a well- 
known member of the Worcester County bar, who are descended from 
Palmer Gouldiug's father, the first Palmer Goulding, who came to 
Worcester in 1718, about the time of the final settlement of the town. 

Among those persons who have been or are members of the Second 
Parish or Society, there are many, besides some already mentioned, who 
have been officers or members of the American Antiquarian Society. 
Among those permanently connected with it or who remained members 
until the Second Unitarian Society, the Church of the Unity, was formed 
in Worcester, are the following named gentlemen : Levi Lincoln, Jr. 
(the late Governor Lincoln, whose name appears first in the Parish 
records, September 7, 1807. when he was chosen Treasurer of the Parish), 



3 This church arose out of differences which sprang up in the First 
Church" during the pastorate of Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, author of a 
history of the United States and other books, and brother of Peter 
Parley. Its first pastor, Rev. L. I. Hoadley, has just died of old age in 
Shelton, Conn., at the ripe age of 92 years. Its second pastor was the 
late Rev. John S. C. Abbott, the author of the Life of Napoleon. 



17 

Rejoice Newton, Samuel M. Burnside (who seems to have been an 
officer of the Antiquarian Society from its foundation in 1812 to his death 
in 1850), Pliny Merrick (Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court), Edward 
D. Bangs (Secretary of the Commonwealth for twelve years), Frederick 
W. Paine (son of Dr. William Paine and grandson of Timothy Paine), 
Stephen Salisbury, Jr. (our President, whose name first appears in the 
Parish records, April 11, 1825, when he was elected Treasurer of the 
Parish), Clarendon Harris, John W. Lincoln (brother of the late Gover- 
nor Lincoln), Charles Allen (Chief Justice of the Superior Court, mem- 
ber of Congress, etc.), William Lincoln (the historian of Worcester, a 
brother of Governor Lincoln), Nathaniel Maccarty (son of Eev. 
Thaddeus MaccartyJ, Isaac Goodwin, John Green, M. D. (the founder 
of the Free Public Library, Worcester), Thomas Kinnicutt (Judge of 
Probate in Worcester County), Francis Blake (the brilliant lawyer), 
John Davis (Governor of the Commonwealth, United States Senator 
and President of this Society), John Park, M. D. (father of Mrs. 
Benjamin F. Thomas and of the second wife of Rev. Dr. Edward B. 
Hall of Providence, R. I., the father of the third pastor of the 2nd 
Parish, Rev. Edward H. Hall), George Chandler, M. D., Benjamin F. 
Thomas (Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, Member of Congress, 
&c), Christopher C. Baldwin (librarian of the Antiquarian Society), 
Samuel F. Haven, 1 Joseph Sargent, M. D., Henry Chapin (Judge of 
Probate, &c), D. Waldo Lincoln, Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Thomas 
Leverett Nelson (Judge of the United States District Court), and 
Samuel S. Green. 

Other members of the Antiquarian Society who were members of the 
Second Parish, for longer or shorter periods, are Alfred Dwight Foster 
(the father of our present associate, Judge Dwight Foster), Emory 
Washburn (Governor of Massachusetts, &c, who appears as a teacher 
in the Sunday School the first year of its formation, 1829), Alexander 
H. Bullock (Governor of Massachusetts, etc.), John C. B. Davis 
(Judge of the United States Court of Claims, late minister to Germany, 
etc.), and Eleazer James. Samuel Jennison seems to have had pews 
in the churches of both the First and Second Parishes. He was chosen 
Treasurer of the Second Parish May 13, 1829. Among other persons 
who have been members of the Second Parish are Samuel Allen, Jr. 
(a brother of Charles Allen and the father of the widow of our late 
Librarian), Henry Rogers (the father of Charles O. Rogers, of the Bos- 
ton Journal), Francis T. Merrick, Horace B. Claflin (the successful mer- 

1 Mr. Haven was, as is well known, grandson of Rev. Jason Haven of 
Dedham and son of Samuel Haven, Chief Justice of the Court of 
Common Pleas for Norfolk County. Judge Haven was very much 
interested in the controversy which arose in Dedham upon the settle- 
ment of Rev. Alvan Lamson, he taking the Orthodox side of the ques- 
tion. Samuel F. Haven was much interested in the works of Swedeu- 
borg. He was an early friend of the Episcopal Church in Worcester, 
but for many years before his death was a constant attendant at the 
church of the 2nd Parish or that of the Church of the Unity. 



18 

chant of New York), and Moses D. Phillips (afterwards the head of the 
firm of publishers in Boston, known as Phillips, Sampson &Co.) Wil- 
liam E. Green (brother of the second Dr. John Green and father of 
Andrew H. Green, late Comptroller of the city of New York, who was 
baptised, according to the records of the Second Church, ^January 28. 
1821,) his son. Judge William N. Green, and Hon. John S. C. Knowlton, 
appear to have been for a time members of the Second Parish. 

The second pastor of the society, Rev. Dr. Alouzo Hill, was an officer 
of the Antiquarian Society, and its third and last minister, Rev. Edward 
H. Hall, is a Councillor of this Society. 

Among persons not already mentioned, who were baptized in the 
Second Parish, according to the Church Records, whom it seems well 
to mention here, are the following : Enoch Lincoln, afterwards Gov- 
ernor of Maine (baptized January 4, 1789), John Brazer, afterwards a 
well known Unitarian minister (November 1, 1789), George Allen, 
brother of Charles Allen, a minister of the gospel, who has just died in 
Worcester at the ripe age of about 92 years (February 5, 1792), Gard- 
iner Paine (May 26, 1799), his son Nathaniel Paine, our Treasurer 
(June 2, 1833), George Bancroft, the historian (October 5, 1800), John 
Healey Heywood, a well known Unitarian minister (June 7, 1818), Has- 
brouck Davis, father of John Davis, present Assistant U. S. Secretary 
of State (July 15, 1827), Horace Davis, recently Member of Congress 
from the San Francisco district (May 22, 1831), Henry William Brown, 
late a Unitarian minister, now instructor in the Worcester State Normal 
School (May 6, 1832), George Sturgis Paine, our associate, an Episco- 
pal minister (July 7, 1833), John Green, an ophthalmologist in St. 
Louis, Mo. (May 31, 1835). 

The church of the Second Parish appointed delegates at tlie dates 
given below to attend the ordination and installation of the following 
persons among others : Mr. John Nelson at Leicester (February 23, 1812), 
Mr. Wm. Ware, 1st Congregational Church, N. Y. (December 2, 1821), 
Rev. Samuel J. May, 1st Ecclesiastical Society of Brooklyn, Conn. (Nov- 
ember 2, 1823), Wm. H. Furness, Congregational Unitarian Church in 
Philadelphia (December 19, 1824), Mr. George R. Noyes, South Parish in 
Brookfield (October 21, 1827), Mr. George W. Burnap, 1st Independent 
Church of Baltimore (April 3, 1828), Mr. John F. W. Ware, Unitarian 
Church and Society in Fall River (April 9, 1843), Mr. John Weiss, Jr., 
1st Congregational Church and Society in Watertown (October 22, 
1843), Rev. David Fosdick, Proprietors of the Hollis street meeting-house 
in Boston (March 1, 1846), Mr. Wm. R. Alger, Mt. Pleasant Society, Rox- 
bury (September 5, 1847), Hasbrouck Davis, 1st Parish in Watertown 
(March 14, 1849), Rev. Frederick H. Hedge, Westminster Congregational 
Church in Providence (March 24, 1850), Mr. Horatio Stebbins, Colleague 
Pastor with Rev. Calvin Lincoln, 1st Church and Society in Fitchburg 
(November 2, 1851), and Rev. Francis Tiffany, 3d Congregational Society 
in Springfield (December 26, 1852). Mr. Furness was ordained in Phila- 




THIRD MEETING-HOUSE OF THE SECOND PARISH 



Dedicated Mahch 26, 1851. 



L9 

delphia, Jauuary 12, 1825. The Second Parish took part in the services 
connected with the fiftieth anniversary of his settlement. 

The Second Parish was invited to send delegates to take part in the 
ordination and installation of Mr. Joseph Allen over the Church in 
Nortborough (Church records, October 27, 1816), of Mr. Edward B. 
Hall over the Second Congregational Society in Northampton (August 
6, 1826), of Mr. Lunt over the Second Unitarian Society in New York 
(June 15, 1828), of Edward J. Young over the Channing Church and 
Congregation in Newton (June 7, 1857), and of Mr. Alfred P. Putnam 
over the Church of the Saviour, Brooklyn, New York (August 11, 1864). 

Delegates were appointed to assist in the ordination of Mr. Samuel B. 
Ingersoll as pastor of the Church in Shrewsbury (June 4, 1820), but the 
Second Church in Worcester did not join in the ordination, because Mr. 
Ingersoll declared that he could not hold ministerial intercourse with a 
Unitarian. September 9, 1821, the Church of the Second Parish elected 
a delegate to take part in the ordination of Mr. Edwards Whipple as pas- 
tor of the Church in Shrewsbury, but the delegate did not "form with 
the Council," because Mr. Whipple made a similar declaration to that 
which Mr. Ingersoll had made. November 16, 1823, the Church of the 
Second Parish chose a delegate to assist in the ordination of Mr. George 
Allen over the same church. There seems to have been no declaration 
such as those made at the previously mentioned inductions. Mr. Allen, 
it will be remembered, was the son of Joseph Allen and the brother of 
Charles Allen of the Second Parish in Worcester. April 26, 1S29, the 
Church of the Second Parish appointed a delegate to form in Council and 
give advice respecting a controversy existing between their pastor, Rev. 
Dr. Holmes and the First Parish in Cambridge. May 2, 1830, "a letter 
missive was communicated from the First Church and Society in Cam- 
bridge requesting the attendance of the Pastors and Delegate at said 
Cambridge, on the 19th inst., to form in council and assist in the ordina- 
tion of Mr. Wm. Newell." April, 1882, the Church of the Second Parish 
assisted at the installation of Rev. Edward H. Hall as pastor of the First 
Church in Cambridge. July 4, 1841, the Church voted to take part in the 
ordination of Mr. John Healey Heywood as an Evangelist, on the 19th of 
the same month. April 19, 1846, Deacons Merrifield and Kettell were 
chosen to assist in the ordination on the 29th of the month, of Edward 
Everett Hale, as Pastor of the Church of the Unity in Worcester. 
December 22, 1858, Rev. R. R. Shippen was installed as minister of the 
Church of the Unity, the pastor of the Second Parish giving the right 
hand of fellowship. 

At the close of last year Hon. George Bancroft sent the following let- 
ter to the Mayor of Worcester : — 

1623 H Street, N. W. ) 

Washington, D. C, 18 December, 1882. 5 

Elijah Brigham Stoddard, Esq., Mayor of the City of Worcester, 
Massachusetts : — 

Dear Sir. — I have always borne and shall ever bear love and a per- 
fect good will to the town, now the city, of Worcester in the Common- 



20 

monwealth of Massachusetts, my native place, and have felt deep grati- 
tude for the affectionate esteem in which the memory of my parents, 
Aaron and Lucretia Chandler Bancroft, has been held by the successive 
generations of its inhabitants who knew them. 

Desirous to raise some monument to them, I would rather place it in 
the midst of the living and for their benefit, than in the solitude of the 
graveyard. The one of them was the most constant and most consistent 
supporter of freedom of conscience, the right and the duty of free 
inquiry, the right and the duty of private judgment, the paramount 
duty of devoting life to the pursuit and the support of truth; in all this 
nobody could excel him ; it formed an elementary part of his being. 
The other to superior intellectual endowments united cheerfulness and 
benevolence of heart: a lively play of fancy; a heroism that bore up 
against adversity or trial; a kindliness, vivacity, and good humor that 
great old age could not diminish. They lived together in marriage for 
more than fifty-two years. In their last winter he had been declining, 
but she died somewhat suddenly before him. He followed her remains 
to the grave; after his return he spoke to me of her cheering and 
infinitely pleasing ways in nursing him during the winter ; and never 
left his house again till he was borne to be placed by her side. 

I wish to establish and convey to the city of Worcester a sum, in 
amount and periods of payment more conformable to my means than to 
my wishes, for the foundation of a scholarship to be called the Aaron 
and Lucretia Chandler Bancroft Scholarship, the income thereof to be 
paid without diminution towards defraying in constant succession the 
expense of the liberal education of some young native of Worcester, 
who in the schools of the city may prove his ability, and yet neither he 
nor his parents may have sufficient means to meet his expenses of resi- 
dence at the college or university of his choice. 

If this proposition should be agreeable to the city of Worcester, I 
will immediately join in defining with exactness our reciprocal obliga- 
tions, and begin to perform my part of the agreement. I remain, my 
dear Mr. Mayor, yours with perfect truth aud respect, 

Geo. Bancroft. 



The proposition of the writer of the letter was gratefully accepted by 
the City Government of Worcester. 

I wish to add, in ending this paper, to the estimate of Dr. and Mrs. 
Bancroft by their son contained in this letter, that of Stephen Salisbury, 
which is contained in the following epitaphs prepared by him for the 
monument raised by friends to .their memory in the Rural Cemetery in 
Worcester. The epitaphs have been printed before, but their author- 
ship has, I believe, never before been publicly stated. I give them here 
for this reason aud because, most felicitously expressed, they are at the 
same time an excellent example of that correctness of characterization 
which marks all the memorial tributes of Mr. Salisbury, and makes 
them real additions to our knowledge of the career and mental qualities 
of the subjects described. 



21 
Inscriptions on a Monument in Worcester Rural Cemetery. 

(North.) 

Here rest 

the mortal remains 

op the Rev 1 Aaron Bancroft D.D. 

born in Reading Nov. 10, 1755 

ordained Pastor of the Second Parish in Worcester 

Feb. 1, 1786 

His spirit ascended to God who gave it 

August 19, 1839. 



(West.) 

In honor and gratitude 

to a devoted pastor 

Who gathered a little flock 

of Christian Worshippers 

in days of opposition straits and trials 

Vindicating for them 

the glorious freedom to worship the one god 

according to the teachings and example 

of the blessed savior 

giving them union strength and increase 

by his labors and his life 

in a ministry of fifty three years 

the Second Parish in Worcester 

erect this monument. 



(South.) 

a spirit free to concede as to claim 

its dearest treasure. christian liberty; 

fearlessness in thought and duty ; 

ready and various powers of learning and observation; 

a clear and forcible expression' : 

an ardent temper 

subdued to the calmness of christian philosophy; 

Uniform prudence in counsel and action ; 

a warm heart and courteous manners 

and devoted fidelity in all relations 

of public and private life; 

gave to our revered pastor 

a moral power, 

which extended to a large circle 

BEYOND THOSE WHOSE HAPPINESS IT WAS 
TO KNOW HIM BEST AND LOVE HIM MOST. 



v 



V 



22 

(East.) 

Here rest 

the mortal remains 

of Lucretia Bancroft 

daughter of judge john 

and Mary Church Chandler 

born June 9 1755 

MARRIED TO THE EeV' 1 AARON BANCROFT OCT 2, 1786 

died April 27 1839. 

With zealous and untiring sympathy 

She shared and relieved 

the pious labors of her husband 

and was not long separated from him 

by an earlier summons to her reward. 

Her. ardent friendship, her active benevolence, 

her many virtues 

and her efforts and sacrifices 

for the welfare 

of the Second Parish in Worcester 

should ever be held 

in grateful remembrance. 



I append iu a uote a list of the names of the present Board of Assess- 
ors of the Second Parish to serve as a landmark in its history. 1 



1 Phinehas Ball, Henry C. Rice, Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Samuel S. 
Green, John C. Otis, A. George Bullock, Joseph Sargent, Jr., Francis 
H. Dewey, Jr., Henry S. Pratt, Frank P. Goulding, Edwin Brown and 
Joseph E. Davis. 






^ 



